[Buddha-l] Dharmapala

[JKirkpatrick]

> It is pretty clear both in the Digha Nikaya version and the
Majjhima 
> Nikaya smashing someone's head asunder into seven pieces with a

> flaming iron club constitutes a mortal challenge to the
clubee's noggin.

 On Behalf Of andy
Saturday, July 17, 2010 4:06 AM

Dan, do I have to split your head into seven pieces to get you to
see that this is a figurative threat?  I will use my flaming club
of Unobtainium, if that is any consolation.  
____________

Not only the splitting of a head into 7 pieces, but the asking of
an ascetic three times--both are conventional figures of Indian
speech about dealings with ascetics. The Buddha's refusal to
reply until after the third time says nothing (contra Dan) about
his mental state at that moment--the story simply has him
observing a convention.

Here's a third one, unknown to me if it occurs in the Pali
texts--last I heard,  contemporary Indians if annoyed by a
persistent interlocutor, might say, 'Go away (aka bugger off),
you are eating up my brains' (magaj in Hindi). 

JK